Let's raise a glass of good old tap water to the Galt council!

Good for the Galt City Council — in fact — hurray for every official of every city and every water district who drinks tap water and takes a pass on those silly water bottles.

Like busy beavers, most of us recycle paper, aluminum, plastic and on and on. And yet we buy millions of little plastic bottle to gulp water from because it some how makes us feel safe.

City water is regulated to parts per billion. The bottled water industry undergoes no such scrutiny. And who elects the board of directors at Crystal Geyser and Dasani, anyway?

Why not leave the oil in the ground that is used to make those plastic bottles and enjoy a glass of water from the tap?

Cork or screw caps? Does Mother Nature really care that much?

While we're looking at the news through the lens of environmentalism, how about those screw caps replacing cork in wine bottles?

Cork, like paper products, comes from a renewable source, say the purists.

But the world's taste for wine is outstripping Portugal's ability to grow cork trees. We're not sure why California cork doesn't work as well. Nevertheless, opening wine with a cork screw can often create an embarrassing mess when a bad cork disintegrates.

We don't think the little bit of aluminum or steel it takes to cap a wine bottle is going to throw Mother Earth out of her orbit. Others will disagree, of course.

Water recharge must move forward.

Back to water and Bryan Pilkington's petition to stop the North San Joaquin Water Conservation District's water pumping fee:

There's an old saying: You don't miss the water 'til the well runs dry.

That's not an analogy, Mr. Pilkington. That's literally what will happen if something isn't done to reverse the groundwater overdraft in this county.

North San Joaquin has the most effective proposal to "do something" or any government agency in the water basin. What's Mr. Pilkington's alternative?

Before you sign the petition, ask to see a better plan.

Sunshine on the public payroll.

Should the public know what public employees make?

Yes, ruled the state Supreme Court this week.

It's a decision that should please taxpayers from Yreka to El Centro.

Background: The Contra Costa Times newspaper sued the city of Oakland after officials there refused to release public payroll information, as they had in years past.

Public employee unions argued the release would invade individual privacy and might expose workers to unwelcome overtures by financial advisors or sales people.

The court ruled the public's right to know trumps those arguments.

Fact is, the state and many local governments have complied with requests for public salary information through the years, so the ruling isn't notably radical or unexpected.

Many requests have been put on hold pending this decision, though, so look for a surge in public salary information in coming months.

We know some public employees may be less than thrilled when their salaries are released.

Yet the value of transparency is hard to overstate. As chief justice Ronald M. George wrote:

"Openness in government is essential to the functioning of a democracy."

— The Lodi News-Sentinel

Reader Feedback

Lodi Living wrote on Sep 5, 2007 4:52 PM:

" Not me. I drink Lodi tap right out of my faucet with a pure filter. :) Now get a reverse osmosis system which is $200.00 and the problem is solved. No plastic, no caps, no chemicals in the water. Wanna taste good water? Go to Co Co's they have the best tap water in the City with a AAA Reverse Osmosis System. Try it and see. It's the best tap water in this City "

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landlover wrote on Sep 5, 2007 12:57 PM:

" Let's raise a glass of good old tap water to the Galt council! Oh, my God shut up.... This article went on forever and in a circle. As for the public salary information companies do not list Tom Smith make $54,00 per year, they give a job title and the salary range. What the job could start at and what the end range is. Example: Office Manager � 30,000 to 40,000. "

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Chris wrote on Sep 5, 2007 6:02 AM:

" Galt water tastes like it came out of the Gora Aquatic Center Swimming Pool You can really smell the Chlorine in the shower. "

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Doc Holliday wrote on Sep 5, 2007 12:51 AM:

" Come on by and I'll give you a drink of water....from a glass that is....many here say the water tastes bad or funny....I think it's fine...but that's me..... "

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Galt resident wrote on Sep 4, 2007 8:58 AM:

" Galt's tap water doesn't taste good. I wouldn't drink it. "

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Watch Out wrote on Sep 3, 2007 4:32 PM:

" Galt, you better watch out. When the Sentinel endorses you there is something rotten in Galt. "

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Carol wrote on Sep 3, 2007 9:58 AM:

" Another hard hitting editorial. "

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To Mr Baldwin wrote on Sep 2, 2007 8:48 AM:

" The LNS employees may drink bottled water but what the Sentinel writer forgets is a couple of yeaars ago Lodi ciitizens raised some hell because of the city buying bottled water for their employees. If tap water was good enough for the citizens why not the employees? They may bring their plastic bottles to work but I no longer pay it. "

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REAL Concerned Citizen wrote on Sep 2, 2007 8:38 AM:

" You'll have to pardon Mr. Baldwin folks, he's an angry person. If the new Council voted to rescue a cat out of a tree, Baldwin would write some nasty letter about it. He's a public puppet of the old regime still bitter about the fact that his cronies (Shelton and Malson) lost in the election. Good for the Galt City Council. Now they get press for being innovative and proggressive in thinking. Good editiorial. "

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Al Baldwin, Galt wrote on Sep 1, 2007 8:11 PM:

" Yes 4 out of 5 voted not to drink water out of plastic bottles and it included any appointed committee by the council, but the committees still drink out of plastic bottles. Their familys drink out of them too. They wear and use plastic all the time. They they even pour water out of plactic containers. I bet the Lodi News employees drink out of plastic! "

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